Firefly
by The Cat's Paw
Summary: His world burned. This new one he'd somehow fallen into was so very different from his own, but he was determined to make the best of it. Even if so many of his loved ones were gone here. Kakashi-centric, some KakaSaku too.
1. Burning

**So… New fic. :P This _was_ called Serenity, but then I remembered that I already had a fic up with that name, so I changed it to Firefly. ;)**

 **Disclaimer that I don't own, and enjoy! :)**

 _ **Firefly**_

 **Chapter One – Burning**

There was fire everywhere, he couldn't escape it.

Running as fast as he could, ANBU Hound could feel the heat at his back, gaining on him. The flames had already claimed everything and everyone else, and now it was coming for him. There was no way he was going to escape it. Already his entire village had burned, with every last person inside dying in agony, their screams still echoing in his head. The smell of their flesh burning turning his stomach, the contents of which threatened to empty.

Some of them had escaped with him, but one by one, the fire caught them all. It was an unnatural fire, one that burned hot the night the moon turned blood red. Panicked reports had come in from the outlying villages, then even further into other lands. Kiri was overwhelmed. Kumo, Iwa, Suna, all of them. He doubted any of them still stood. The destruction was complete and total, nothing was left untouched.

He glanced up at the moon, still that same bloody red. The same red as the eye that burned in his skull right now. An eye that had been a gift from a friend who'd died. Or at least, they thought he had. He'd turned up a few years later, a worn out prisoner in a liberated fort that had been in Iwa hands before that. Well, he'd survived at least until a few hours ago…

Pushing those thoughts aside before he was fatally distracted by them, he searched around for something, _anything_ , that might help him. A lake. There was a lake near here. Ridiculous, though, there was no water that could quench these flames. If there were, Kiri surely wouldn't have fallen… Yet that primal, illogical part of his brain that associated water as the opposite of fire pushed him in that direction.

So now he was on the lake, and it was a sorry sight indeed. It shimmered red in reflection of the moon and the flames, which he could now see were closing in on him from all directions. So. He was trapped them. He'd known, deep down, that there was no way he could have avoided it forever. The wall of fire that had chased him hadn't been the only one, after all. And now here they all were, their final prey at last cornered.

Releasing a sigh, he stopped. The flames flickered briefly, pausing with him as they seemed to realise that he'd given up, then rushed towards him with eager glee. He removed his mask, the porcelain one, securing it to his side. Even now, he couldn't simply discard it, head leaning back as he took in the sight of the night sky (which had lasted for several days, since the whole thing had begun) before his chakra finally gave out and he sank into the watery depths.

Water consumed him, rushing into his lungs, even as a last, primal spark, one that _demanded_ survival, triggered the crimson eye that blazed in his skull, then Hatake Kakashi, last survivor of Konohagakure, and quite possibly the entire world, vanished off the face of the world.

 _The flames screamed in rage as their prey escape, and as one world burned, another welcomed a dawning day, unaware of what had gone before._

 **So what did you think? Kakashi here is about twenty, and his world has quite the different history than the one he's going to. You might have already guessed.**

 **In any case, review please! :)**


	2. Drowning

**New chapter! Yay!**

 **FYI, I'm gonna be changing my username soon. Both here and on AO3. It won't be for a bit, give me some time to put the note in other fics, get people used to the idea. Didn't do that the first time. :P I've no idea what it'll be yet, though.**

 **Disclaimer that I don't own, and enjoy! :)**

 **Chapter Two – Drowning**

Two people were fishing, innocently laughing and gossiping when it happened. One moment, there was peaceful bliss. The sky was blue, birds were chirping, the weather was balmy, and the fish were biting. Then in the next moment, it seemed to magically cloud over, rain poured, thunder crashed, and the lake water was being tossed everywhere. An explosion in the middle lifted up and then poured more water than the impromptu storm.

But then it was gone. Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the storm disappeared, and the weather returned to normal. The two people fishing stared at one another in confusion and mild terror, neither of them knowing what had happened.

"Kunio," one spoke. "I think maybe we should tell someone about this?"

"Are you mad, Aito?" Kunio gaped at his fishing buddy. "We should get out of here as fast as possible!"

"B-but…" Aito stuttered, but Kunio shot him down.

"No," he said determinedly. "Gather up your gear, we're headed back to the village."

Aito reluctantly packed up his fishing gear, trudging along the bank as they headed back home. He glanced out to the water every now and then, _really_ wanting to know what was going on. Every time he opened his mouth, Kunio would give him a 'look', or grunt at him to let him know that he _knew_ what he was thinking. So Aito followed along sullenly.

It was because he kept glancing out at the lake that he saw it. A body floating in the water, not far out.

"There's someone floating in the water," he said, and Kunio stopped, glancing out.

"Huh," he said. "Maybe he's what caused that weird storm."

They stood there, staring out at the floater. "So…" Aito spoke casually. "How're we gonna get them outta there?"

In the end, Kunio made Aito go out and get them, since Aito was the stronger swimmer, and Kunio had never bothered to learn beyond knowing how to float if his fishing boat capsized. Aito dragged the body to shore, then they thumped his back like they'd been taught to get the man breathing. He gasped for air, but didn't really regain consciousness, and Aito wondered how anyone couldn't wake up through Kunio's huge fist pounding his back.

"Oi! He's wearing shinobi gear," Aito said. "And one of them hitai… something's."

"We'll take him back to the village then, send word to Konoha," Kunio decided. "Reckon there'll be a nifty reward for rescuing one of theirs?"

Aito shrugged as Kunio lifted the man over his shoulders.

On the way back, Aito grumbled as he carried both his gear and Kunio's, and when they reached the village, Kunio took the guy straight to Shigeo, who ran their village. Aito followed once he'd stowed their gear, and slipped into the little house they'd put the guy. He stared at the guy, and the longer he did, the more he realised that he'd seen him before. Couple of years ago, on a trip into Konoha, he'd run into the guy, who'd apparently recently snuck out of their hospital.

With a gasp of realisation that alerted the others that he was there, Aito pointed to the guy and declared, "Hey! That's Hatake Kakashi! Ain't he the Hokage?"

 **For those who don't go on AO3, I want to point out the tags I'm using on there for this fic:**

 _Hatake Kakashi-centric/ Anbu Hatakae Kakashi/ Hokage Hatake Kakashi/ Two Kakashi's/ Love Triangles/ but not really/ One-Sided Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke/ Dimension Travel/ Time Travel/ sort of/ PTSD/ if I can do it justice/ Gai is a great friend/ for both Kakashis/ Alternate Universe/ Alternate Universe – Canon Divergence/ 500 word average chapters/ well minimum anyway_

 **For some reason, I just wanted to point that out here.**

 **Anyway, review please! :)**


	3. Replica

**New chappie! So, I realised I should put Tragedy on this, considering the 'warning' I put on AO3…**

 **Reminder that I'm changing my user name at some point in the new year.**

 **Disclaimer that I don't own, and enjoy! :)**

 **Chapter Three – Replica**

Panic was spread throughout Konoha at the news that their Hokage was found washed up by a lake nearby.

Well, it was until one level-headed shinobi thought to check the Hokage office and therefore found their leader safe and sound, reclining in his chair and reading his smutty books. He'd been enjoying the rather unexpected break that had been a side-effect of all of his shinobi in quite a panic. And of course, Shizune ended up scolding him like crazy for not letting them know he was _actually_ still here.

He'd merely shrugged. "Not my fault you all thought I was off somewhere else. I've been here the _whole time_."

Which of course then begged the question, just who had set off the alert in the first place? Eventually it was tracked to a messenger, who'd arrived just ten minutes before the alarm. He'd had a communiqué with him that someone matching the Hokage's description had _indeed_ been found washed up on the lake. So if it actually _wasn't_ the Hokage, then who was it?

Hatake Kakashi sent out his best ANBU squad to find out. Considering the likelihood of someone who was impersonating the Hokage being hostile, it was the best choice. For who better than a Hokage-picked squad for the job? So they went, they saw, they commandeered.

Returning to the village, they immediately took the person they'd found straight to a special room at the hospital that was set aside for high security threats. Apparently the guy was suffering severe chakra exhaustion, and had multiple wounds, including burns. But Kakashi had his best people working on it. A Hyuuga to check the guys chakra. A Yamanaka for a mind walk, with Ibiki supervising. Shizune poking and prodding him, taking blood and tissue samples from not only the doppleganger, but Kakashi as well.

In the end, it seemed that their guest was the perfect copy of their Hokage. Just… fifteen years younger, still with Obito's sharingan, and with a set of memories that diverged only once Rin was apparently _not_ captured by Kiri. Kakashi considered recalling Sasuke to check the guy out with his rinnegan… Meh, he'd do it later. Right now, he had a bunch of people in his office, all looking at him expectantly…

"So," he mused, "it's official then? He's me in every way, except younger?"

"DNA and chakra signature are a perfect match," Shizune said, like she hadn't already told him. "He could still be a clone, but that would likely lead back to Orochimaru, and he's already handed over a list of all the research and experiments he's conducted over the years."

 _Not_ that everyone here thought the 'reformed' snake had _really_ told them everything…

"What precautions are on him right now?" Kakashi asked, knowing the answer already, but it had to be checked again.

"The room he's in is one with the highest clearance in the hospital," Ibiki said. "There's chakra restraining seals, four ANBU guards, and the only medical personnel allowed in are Shizune, Tsunade, and Sakura."

"Sakura's there right now," Shizune piped up. "Don't worry, Hokage-sama, when he wakes up, Sakura will be able to handle him."

Sakura handling his arrogant, stick-up-his-ass-still ( _mostly_ , according to the Yamanaka's reports) younger self? _Riiiight…_

He'd pay to see that.

 **So what did you think? Review please! :)**


	4. Atop

**Hiya! New chapter! :)**

 **Disclaimer that I don't own, and enjoy.**

 **Chapter Four – Atop**

The steady beeping of the machines was a soothing backdrop as she stared down at the younger version of her sensei.

It was quite the mystery, how he'd come to be here. Was he from the past? An alternate dimension? Sakura knew that T&I had already checked him out, but she didn't have access those results. Well… she could find out if she really wanted, her position in the village would allow it. And she was sure her old sensei would let his _favourite_ student take a look. But until then, all she could do was wonder.

Sighing, she looked down at his chart, which she'd been updating. He was going to wake soon, her last check up on him with diagnostic chakra had shown that he would. It could be any second now, or in an hour. He was completely healed, physically, at least, so once he woke, he'd be ready for a debrief and secondary interrogation. They'd need to talk to him to make sure everything they'd gotten while unconscious matched up.

Sighing, Sakura went back to updating his chart, noting the improvements in his heartbeat, his chakra flow, and such. Once that was done, she settled back into the chair that was sat beside the bed, opening a medical manuscript and sipping on coffee to wait away the time. After all, someone had to be here with him _all the time_ until he woke. An understandable precaution all things considered.

Finishing jotting down everything she needed to, she looked back over to him. And frowned. Getting up from her seat and stepping closer to the bed, she reached over and hovered her hand over his forehead, hand glowing green. Quite suddenly, his eyes snapped open, he grabbed her wrist, pulled her down onto the bed, sharingan blazing as his hand found her throat. Sakura quite deliberately _avoided_ that eye.

His grip was hard, bruising her wrist and choking on her throat, his weight pressing her down to ensure she didn't escape. Sakura could _feel_ every inch of him that was against her, and it made her feel uncomfortable to be in such a vulnerable position.

"Who are you?" he demanded in a harsh rasp. "Where am I?"

Infusing and distributing chakra into her hands and through the necessary muscles, Sakura pushed him off her and scrambled off the bed, flaring her chakra lightly to let the right people know that he was awake. "You're in Konoha's hospital," she told him. "Do you- Do you remember who you are?"

He glanced up at her forehead, no doubt noting the absence of her hitai-ate, which she tended not to wear when she was on hospital rotation theses days. "Konoha," he repeated, his body shifting slightly into a less aggressive stance, but still on guard. "I can't be… It's _gone_."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at that. "We're all still here," she told him. "And so are you. So… Do you remember who you are, or not?"

He gave her a 'look' that was a cross between the most serious look she'd ever seen on that face before, and when Sasuke would look like he'd swallowed something unpleasant, usually in dealing with Sai, these days. "Hatake Kakashi," he said eventually. "Oh-nine-seven-two-oh. Jounin, ANBU Captain. _Who are you_?"

Sakura smiled. "Haruno Sakura," she told him as the door opened behind her and an ANBU entered the room on the heels of a Yamanaka interrogator. "Please sit, Kakashi-san. We have a lot to discuss."

 **So what did you think? Review please! :)**


	5. note of adoption

Hi y'all! So, terrible news… I'm abandoning this author profile. :(

 _But…_ I'm going to post on a fresh, new one! :) In fact, I've already started. It's just that I've got so many fics on here, unfinished and whatnot, and I quite often feel overwhelmed by how much I haven't completed, and it makes me procrastinate like _heck_. So, in the interest of my sanity, I'm dumping it all.

Well, almost all.

Every fic I'm updating with this author note is up for a free-for-all adoption. The only thing I ask is that you keep each chapter the same (or merge them if you want the shorter chapter fics to be longer) with no rewrites, and make sure to credit that you're adopting it from me. If you have any questions, feel free to pm me, I'll still be keeping an eye on this profile. Besides, I disabled pm'ing on the other one.

There are some fics that I _won't_ be adopting out, no matter that they're not complete. Ones like Katana and Earthly Attachment, which are my _babies_. And there are a few that I still plan on continuing under the new pen name, like Petrichor and Ghosts. None of my Sailor Moon fics will be up for adoption, either. This will mostly just be Naruto and Code Geass. And possibly Narnia, I'm still undecided on that.

Anyway, I hope you won't be too put out. Sorry about this, but I really believe this is the only way I can continue writing, and still keep my sanity. :D

EDIT: The new profile is thatsnotmyname32. Just fanfiction for now, I'll get to AO3 soon.


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